Page 54 of Semblance

“Yes sir,” Johnny said. “I’ll be right here when you are done.”

Shadow looked at me with warm affectionate eyes. “Well, if you’re ready, let’s begin our second date.”

“Let’s,” I agreed.

#

The insides of Angkor Wat were just as beautiful as the outside. Shadow guided me through the different galleries, scaling across flat sandstone tiles and pointing out the intricate stone carvings that lined some of the walls.

“What are these?” I asked, gesturing towards a pair of naked women sculpted into the walls.

“They’re called Aspara,” Shadow replied, “Otherwise known as nymphs or dancing girls.”

“Strange things to have on holy temple walls,” I commented.

“They apparently help ward off evil spirits and demons from this place.”

“By giving them a lap dance?”

Shadow shrugged. “They actually seduced them into having sex, believe it or not.”

“Interesting.”

Shadow gestured towards another wall where a mean son-of-a-bitch was carved into the stone. “And here are the Dvarpala. They’re demonic temple guardians used to fight off other demons.”

“Was this all part of the same history lesson Johnny gave you yesterday?” I teased.

“Perhaps.”

We continued our exploration through the rest of the temple. I felt like an overstimulated kid, climbing over rocks and balancing on stone walls, while forgetting about all the stresses in the world.

Shadow seemed to enjoy watching me navigate through broken stone piles that littered the ground.

“You look really nice,” he said, the first compliment he gave me today.

My gaze danced across his large, sweaty body—admiring the raw strength that he exuberated—before finally settling on his eyes.

It was one of those romantic stares that you read about in books and saw on television, where everything around us faded from existence and we were the only two people left in the universe.

Shadow broke our staring contest; his eyes working slowly down my body, and then up again before settling on my lips. I practically whimpered when he licked his lips, and I imagined how soft and hard they’d be all at once--how they would feel on me.

Damn, I was so turned on.

“Hey look where we are,” Shadow said, pointing to the large, magnificent tower that stood over us like a silent giant. He was diving right into another little history lesson instead of diving into me, and I did my best to hide my disappointment.

“It’s lovely,” I said. It really was.

“It’s the main tower of Ankor Wat,” he said. “The temple of Vishnu.”

“How many times have you been here, to Cambodia?” I asked.

“A few; Cambodia is one of those places that has both captivated and broken my heart.”

“I noticed the poverty.”

It was sad.

“Have you set up business’s here, like Lincoln and Abraham?”

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